The present invention is directed to a technique for testing devices such as pull panels, smoke detectors and the like seriatim for alarm and trouble conditions. Normally, such devices are connected in loops in a manner well-known to the artisan and are monitored for alarm and trouble conditions at a central panel. The loops are distributed throughout the zones of an industrial plant, office or residential building, or the like, remote from the central panel. A tone alarm is provided at the central panel to announce to the central panel operator that a trouble condition has been detected. Zone trouble LEDs at the central panel visually identify the zone in which the trouble condition has been detected. Alarm bells distributed throughout the zones are sounded continuously when an alarm condition is detected. Zone alarm LEDs are located at the central panel to visually identify the zone in which the alarm condition has been detected.
To perform a walk through test of each device, a workman places each device in an alarm condition and creates a trouble condition in the loop connection to the device. The workman must communicate with the central panel operator to determine whether the trouble condition has been properly detected at the central panel since the audible alarm indicating a trouble condition is only sounded at the central panel. In addition, although the workman need not communicate with the central panel operator to determine whether an alarm condition has been properly detected at the central panel, he must communicate with the central panel operator to determine whether the device has been connected in the correct zone loop. Thus, visual identification of the zone loop in which the device in alarm is connected is provided only by the zone alarm LED at the central panel. A device which is physically located in one zone should cause the zone alarm LED for the loop in that zone (and no other) to light up at the central panel. If another zone alarm LED lights up instead, this indicates that the device has either been connected in the wrong zone loop or physically located in the wrong zone.
Moreover, in the conventional system, after a device has been placed in an alarm condition by the workman, the device must be reset by depression of an alarm reset button at the central panel before the next device can be tested. The central panel operator must perform this function. In light of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that in the conventional system the workman cannot rapidly test a multitude of devices distributed throughout the zones of a plant, building or the like without the cooperation of an operator at the central panel.
The problem solved by the present invention is that of providing a rapid walk through test of a multitude of devices distributed throughout various zones of a plant, building or the like without any communication between the workman and the central panel.